The present application relates to a ligature for a woodwind musical instrument and, more particularly, to a ligature which permits the obtaining of multiple tones from the instrument.
Ligatures are used to mount a vibrating reed element to the surface of a mouthpiece for an instrument such as a clarinet or saxophone. The design and construction of the ligature, affects the tone quality and response of the instrument. A goal of the ligature design is to permit maximum freedom of vibration to the reed.
Prior ligatures that attempt to provide a means of adjusting the quality of tone or response have done so by utilizing screw adjustments, as in the designs of Van Doren U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,229 and Cusack U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,152, or sliding bars as in Pascucci U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,253, or a plurality of pressure pins as in Winslow U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,271. Those using pressure adjustments may not achieve satisfactory performance throughout the range of adjustment. Those requiring extensive assembly and disassembly are not convenient to use. In the design of the present invention, alteration in tone and response are achieved by changing the virtual mass of the cradle, in combination with having the reed in contact with either metal or rubber, thus achieving a diversity of tone with no sacrifice in performance, and having uniqueness in comparison with the prior art. Also, this has been achieved in a less complex manner and with greater ease of use than in many prior ligatures.